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Monday, 30 April 2012

And the good news is...

We know nothing more about the type of growth in my leg bone
than we did before the biopsy.I
still consider myself to have “probably-cancer”.

However, today has been a day of positive outcomes and good
news about my health.

I rocked the biopsy.I was very worried about the surgery.I have never had surgery before.I was prepared for pain.But I was worried about feeling sick, or throwing up, or
generally being out of sorts for the day.

But the day was fine.I was in recovery until 1130, then they moved me to my room.I was up taking care of personal
business by 1pm, walking myself to the bathroom on crutches.I slept a bit, rested a lot, enjoyed
some clear fluids (mmm mmm good vegetable broth and vegetarian jello).I felt strong and well enough to leave
the hospital, and around 630 pm we left the hospital.Drove home. Stopped for a quick bite.Was home before 9, and was able to give
the three monsters good night kisses and hugs.

The news:

They removed and tested the tissue right beside the affected
area of my bone.There was no
cancer in that tissue.

The bone growth looks “reactionary” rather than“tumour growthy” (I assure you this is,
in fact, a medical term).

Now – to be fair – both of those things were considered to
be very likely before the biopsy based on imaging.However, having clinical proof and visual confirmation of
that is wonderful.

It means that whatever is in my bone hasn’t spread to the
tissue around the bone.

The other great piece of information is that the cells that
they dug out of my bone were not easily determined to be cancerous.Nor were they easily determined not to
be cancerous.Basically, the cells
looked like regular cells.This is
FANTASTIC.Because either 1 – it
isn’t cancer.Or2- it is a low grade cancer.Low grade cancers grow slowly and are
less likely to spread.Less likely
to spread is wonderful news.It
also means it is not likely to be Ewing’s Sarcoma, which is a much more
aggressive form of cancer than regular old osteosarcoma.(Aside:I think it is creepy to be wishing for one kind of cancer
than another.But it is where I am
right now).

The best news of the day, for me anyway, came from an accidental
run-in with Dr. W in the elevator as we were leaving.

I said “I know this may be a little inappropriate, but is
there a chance you remember how my chest Xray looked?”

He thought about it.He said “It looked good”.

This – this is the golden news.There is no cancer in my lungs.Bone cancer likes to spread to the lungs (this is was got
Terry Fox in the end).But there
is no cancer in mine.

If it is cancer…it hasn’t spread.And we caught the sucker early.

We now wait for the pathology results to come back.We continue to hope for not-cancer, but
I know that no matter what disease I am up against, I will win.